Hospital, centre fined for medical negligence

Told to pay Rs40L relief to patient for deficiency in service

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Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 27

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Punjab, has directed Amritsar-based Liver and Digestive Diseases Centre (LDDC) and Fortis Escorts Hospital to pay a compensation of Rs40 lakh to a patient’s kin for deficiency in service and medical negligence.

Commission president Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal has also directed the centre and the hospital to pay the compensation along with 7 per cent interest per annum from the date of filing of this complaint i.e. May 2, 2018 and Rs33,000 as litigation costs to the complainant.

Loveleen Kaur, a resident of Niranjanpur Fattuwal village, Baba Bakala Tehsil, in her complaint to the commission, had stated that her husband, Iqbal Singh (33), had some problem in his stomach. He was admitted to the Amritsar centre on August 2, 2017 after he complained of in epigastric pain and abdomen heaviness.

The patient was admitted to the ICU ward. During check-up, it was found that he had no problem of HTN and thyroid. She averred that due to non-availability of the doctor, the patient was not diagnosed properly and the treatment got delayed. As a result, the condition of the patient worsened. Ultimately, the patient was referred to Fortis Escorts Hospital.

During this period, the patient’s condition worsened and he died on August 9. She demanded Rs45 lakh as compensation and Rs1.5 lakh on account of the amount spent on the treatment.

Counsels for the opposite parties took certain preliminary objections to the effect that the complainant is not a ‘consumer’ nor she has any locus standi to file the complaint. The complaint was not maintainable and is a gross abuse of the process of this commission as the complainant has not approached with clean hands as she had concealed material facts relating to the patient’s medical condition. There is no evidence to show that there is any negligence or deficiency or delay in service at the hands of the opposite parties during the course of treatment. Rather the treatment was given on standard medial jurisprudence by adopting proper procedure as well as by qualified, experienced and competent medical staff.

The counsel for Oriental Insurance Company, Amritsar, took preliminary objections to the effect that in professional indemnity policy, the indemnity applies only to claims arising out of bodily injury and death alleged to have been caused by any error or omission in professional service rendered. The complaint is misconceived and has been filed to overreach law and to mislead this commission. The negligence can only be fastened on the treating doctor, if he has done something, which he ought not to have done or omitted to do something, which he ought to have done while carrying out a procedure.